diff --git a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
index c366848f1f..dffe8c1c36 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
@@ -1096,7 +1096,10 @@ class BasicNewsRecipe(Recipe):
         # Nuke HTML5 tags
         for x in ans.findAll(['article', 'aside', 'header', 'footer', 'nav',
             'figcaption', 'figure', 'section']):
-            x.get_attribute_list('class').append(f'calibre-nuked-tag-{x.name}')
+            if x.get('class'):
+                x.get_attribute_list('class').append(f'calibre-nuked-tag-{x.name}')
+            else:
+                x['class'] = f'calibre-nuked-tag-{x.name}'
             x.name = 'div'
 
         if job_info: